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A review by rallythereaders
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
4.0
Also posted on Rally The Readers.
4.5 Stars
I hadn’t read a contemporary, non-paranormal, non-fantasy YA novel in ages (which probably means not since I actually was a young adult). Anna and the French Kiss was a nice departure from my normal dose of angst-ridden adolescents coming to terms with their newfound supernatural powers. It was a fun, breezy read that I would have devoured in a day if I’d had the time. The romance was sweet but not saccharine; plenty of sarcasm, both American and British, keeps the story from becoming sappy.
Anna is a very likable, relatable protagonist. She’s smart, funny, and endearingly self-conscious. Whenever she couldn’t stop herself from saying something awkward, which happened quite often, I completely sympathized with her. She wasn’t a whiner, either; I’m not a fan of main characters who spend pages and pages complaining about how horrible their lives are yet do nothing to change their situations. Of course, Anna isn’t completely without faults; there wouldn’t have been much tension to the plot otherwise.
Ah, St. Clair. He had me from the moment that he uttered his first line of dialogue. I admit it: I totally have a thing for guys with English accents. Even if St. Clair had turned out to be a complete creep, I still could not have hated him. Because of the accent. Fortunately, St. Clair is not a creep. He possesses all of the qualities (intelligence, charisma, a wicked sense of humor, an English accent!) that would make any girl swoon but with enough flaws to make him human.
The suspense surrounding Anna and St. Clair’s will-they-or-won’t-they-get-together relationship drives this novel. What would probably be a cliché in any other book works winningly here. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Anna and the French Kiss and highly recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a good, old-fashioned, straightforward romance without any vampires, werewolves, faeries, witches, or other paranormal types in sight.
4.5 Stars
I hadn’t read a contemporary, non-paranormal, non-fantasy YA novel in ages (which probably means not since I actually was a young adult). Anna and the French Kiss was a nice departure from my normal dose of angst-ridden adolescents coming to terms with their newfound supernatural powers. It was a fun, breezy read that I would have devoured in a day if I’d had the time. The romance was sweet but not saccharine; plenty of sarcasm, both American and British, keeps the story from becoming sappy.
Anna is a very likable, relatable protagonist. She’s smart, funny, and endearingly self-conscious. Whenever she couldn’t stop herself from saying something awkward, which happened quite often, I completely sympathized with her. She wasn’t a whiner, either; I’m not a fan of main characters who spend pages and pages complaining about how horrible their lives are yet do nothing to change their situations. Of course, Anna isn’t completely without faults; there wouldn’t have been much tension to the plot otherwise.
Ah, St. Clair. He had me from the moment that he uttered his first line of dialogue. I admit it: I totally have a thing for guys with English accents. Even if St. Clair had turned out to be a complete creep, I still could not have hated him. Because of the accent. Fortunately, St. Clair is not a creep. He possesses all of the qualities (intelligence, charisma, a wicked sense of humor, an English accent!) that would make any girl swoon but with enough flaws to make him human.
The suspense surrounding Anna and St. Clair’s will-they-or-won’t-they-get-together relationship drives this novel. What would probably be a cliché in any other book works winningly here. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Anna and the French Kiss and highly recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a good, old-fashioned, straightforward romance without any vampires, werewolves, faeries, witches, or other paranormal types in sight.